Two cold cases ruled homicides

The Franklin County coroner's office has ruled two unsolved deaths - one from 2005 and the other from 2007 - to be homicides.

Jim Woods, The Columbus Dispatch

The Franklin County coroner’s office has ruled two unsolved deaths — one from 2005 and the other from 2007 — to be homicides.

Charles F. Calloway, 48, died on Oct. 17, 2005, a day after suffering smoke inhalation and burns in a house fire in Franklinton. The fire originally was said to be caused by careless smoking, but Columbus Fire Division investigators later ruled it to be arson, said Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak.

At the request of Columbus police homicide detective Kathy Justice, who works on cold cases, Calloway’s cause of death was recently changed to homicide, Gorniak said.

The other case involved the shooting death of Charlie L. Hancock III, 33, who was shot on March 21, 2007, while a passenger in a car on I-270 near Easton Way. He lived with his injuries nearly four years, dying on Jan. 8 of this year.

The coroner’s office decided that Hancock’s death was a direct result of his shooting and ruled it a homicide.

In the Franklinton fire case, Calloway suffered burns over 90 percent of his body from the fire at 274 S. Dakota Ave. He had been staying in the home while house sitting for a friend who was away.

In the shooting case, Hancock had been a quadriplegic since he was struck by multiple gunshots. He was in a rehabilitation center when he died in January, Gorniak said.